GPs urged to complete contract survey
30 January 2013
BMA GPs committee chair Laurence Buckman has reminded GPs to complete the BMA survey on forced changes to their contract.
In a blog and an email to GPs in England, Dr Buckman writes that the contract proposals will have a ‘profound impact’ on general practice.
They include scrapping most of the organisational points in the quality and outcomes framework and a seven-year phase-out of the minimum practice income guarantee.
He urges GPs to ‘complete, don’t delete’ the emailed survey as it will bolster the BMA response to the Department of Health consultation on changes it wants to make from this April.
Dr Buckman writes: ‘Workload will go up, while funding could plummet with an average practice losing £31,000 a year. It is not a pleasant proposition, not least as BMA Scotland and the Scottish government have reached a deal that is far better than the one that sits on the table for their English colleagues.’
GP negotiators this week also stepped up their drive to make sure grassroots GPs are fully informed and can voice their concerns by hosting a series of roadshows, which are continuing around the country.
The BMA has strongly rebutted NHS Employers claims that the GPC had ‘clearly now abandoned’ a UK approach to GP contract changes. Dr Buckman said the government had decided to end negotiations and, while the GPC had said it was willing to have further meaningful dialogue, there was no indication that the government was willing to make any concessions.